Camp4Cancer

Wow…wow…wow. What an event. This year marks the third year of Camp4Cancer, a local event which raises money for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Held in Darraweit Guim, Victoria, the event provided live music, comedians and heaps of activities for the kiddies. But most importantly, the two day event raised over $25,000.00 for cancer research and treatment.

Due to family commitments we were unable to attend the first night of the event, but we made it for the Saturday night. The plan was to take the swags, but on the Friday we were informed by the event founder and organiser, Ben, that there was a spare camper trailer that we could use. We were also given VIP tickets to the event. Talk about feeling special!! The event brought together 200 wonderful people, including supporters, carers and cancer survivors and patients all camping out for such a fantastic cause. The amount of people and companies that offered gifts and services to be auctioned and raffled was staggering. To know that so many people were willing to participate in this way was mind blowing. It made for a rather emotional night.

The live bands and comedians were amazing and created such a great atmosphere. Although an incoming storm threatened to cut the night short, there was still plenty of fun to be had. Fortunately the storm passed after about an hour and everyone was ready to get straight back into the festivities. Ben managed to locate me within the crowd and organised to have me get up and have a talk to the crowd. Although I am more than willing to discuss my disease openly and honestly, I am not very good at public speaking, and I think I proved that on this occasion. After thanking everyone for being there and showing their support to fighting cancer, I completely lost track and continue to tell people to get tested for bowel cancer by “shitting on a stick”. Yes……I actually used those words. I completely forgot to tell my story, but if my shocker of a speech gets just one person shitting on a stick, then I am happy.

The next morning we headed home with a new found inspiration to help Ben in any way possible with the planning and putting together of the 2018 Camp4Cancer. The amount of work Ben and his crew put into this event it absolutely amazing. These people are the salt of the earth and I am forever grateful for their time and effort. Was an inspiration!!

On the side I also decided to try and raise a bit of money for the event. With the help of friends and family we raised $1,000.00 for the cause. I am extremely grateful to all those that donated.

We hope that 2018 will bring more people together for the fight against cancer.